The invention relates to a weapon, in particular a rapid-fire weapon.
Such a rapid-fire weapon is e.g. known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,395 or EP-A1-1069394. This weapon comprises a barrel and a projectile that is insertable into the barrel and comprises several sub-projectiles that are stacked one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the barrel and supported on each other, a propellant charge being provided behind each sub-projectile. As a rule, the sub-projectiles are accommodated in a sleeve, the wall of the sleeve being provided with electric igniters in the area of the individual propellant charges. The igniters are successively electrically ignited by means of an ignition means and, due to this, the propellant charges are sequentially ignited so that the sub-projectiles are successively ejected from the barrel.
As a rule, the individual sub-projectiles have a caliber of 40 mm; the fire frequency ranges from 2 to 5 Hz.
Due to the simple stacking of the sub-projectiles in the sleeve, the ejection forces cannot be reproduced in a defined manner for the individual shots. Moreover, the electrical igniters that are always present in the sleeve are susceptible to corrosion and aging and are not safe against electromagnetic interferences which, among other things is a problem for transport and storage.